NP: Maus

[Edward M. Pilszak]

At 10:22 AM 8/23/99 PDT, you wrote:
>Doug wrote:
>>Art Spiegelman's comic books Maus and Maus II
>
>Isn't that characterization akin to calling _Garden of Earthly Delights_ a 
>pretty picture about idyllic village life?
>
>     Steve Maas
>
Nope.  Calling Maus a comic book is only referring to it in its medium.  It
doesn't lessen the work to call it so, but it does raise the bar for the
medium of comic books.  Of course, the appellation most fans of the Maus
books give is graphic novel, and that works as a subset of the comic book,
without the "comic" which they seem to find demeans the work somehow.  
BTW, I have read the first book, and found it an amazing work which, as I
said above, does raise the bar for the comic book medium.  It is too bad
that most comics are content to continue under that bar.  Anyone read Cerebus?
Rambling on again, 
Ed Pilszak